This post covers the most common network topologies, their advantages and disadvantes.
Mesh Topology
In a full mesh network, all the nodes are connected to each other. This is a very robust topology, since if one node goes down, only the connection to that node is affected. The problem with mesh topology is that when the amount of nodes grows, the amount of connections grows by the amount of nodes minus one and this becomes increasingly hard to manage, thus full mesh networks are usually reserved for backbone networks only. Implementing a mesh network partially reduces the redundancy but is cheaper to implement.
Star Topology
In a star topology all the nodes are connected to a central node, usually called the hub. One functioning node does not affect other nodes, but failure of the central hub will take down the whole network.
Bus Topology
In a bus topology the nodes connect to a central wire, the backbone. Bus topology is inexpensive and easy to install for small networks.
Ring Topology
All the nodes are connected in a closed loop and messages travel around the ring. A ring network can span longer distances than other topologies, since the messages get regenerated by each node it passes through.
There is a major disadvantage though: Lets say that nodes A, B and C are part of ring topology network, if node B goes down, A has to send the message around the whole ring to message C and if the network is unidirectional, not a single node will be able to communicate with A or C depending on the direction.
Tree Topology
Tree topology is a “hybrid” network where groups of star networks are interconnected with backbone bus networks and the individual star networks “divide” the network into smaller ones that are easier to manage. It’s probably the most common network layout in offices & schools. A star section of the network can be a single office, floor or site etc. and they’re connected to a central corporate backbone.
Sources
- https://www.cybrary.it/study-guides/cissp/types-of-network-topologies/
- https://www.webopedia.com/quick_ref/topologies.asp
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_topology
Diagrams were made with OmniGraffle